Clifford Chance (CC) has turned to BPP Law School as its new training provider in a blow to the University of Law which had worked with the Magic Circle firm for eight years.
BPP will teach Magic Circle trainees MA Legal Practice Course (LPC) with business modules for the next three years, commencing January 2014 and the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) from September 2015.
CC confirmed BPP was selected following a competitive tender and that business modules have been developed in conjunction with BPP’s Business School. It follows Allen & Overy which appointed BPP to launch a business-focused LPC and MA at the end of last year, in a bid to boost incoming lawyers’ commercial awareness.
The news, as first reported by RollOnFriday, is a significant loss to the University of Law, which has provided training programmes to some 100 of CC’s trainees a year for the last eight years.
CC London managing partner David Bickerton said: ‘We have had a longstanding and successful relationship with the University of Law and we are grateful for the excellent work they have done with our trainees over recent years, which has contributed to the firm being both the TARGETjobs Graduate Employer of the Year, the first law firm ever to win this award, and The Times’ Employer of Choice in Law.’
A statement from the University of Law: ‘After eight successful years of delivering the GDL and LPC to Clifford Chance trainees, the firm has decided, following a re-tender process, to integrate its LPC and business training with another provider. We wish Clifford Chance every success and look forward to working with them again in the future.
‘We continue to work with over 90 of the top UK law firms and over half of the top global firms, many of whom send their trainees exclusively to the University of Law for their training.’
Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
